Policing
Criminology
What is ‘policing’?
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A set of activities
Provision of “security through surveillance
and the threat of sanctioning” (Reiner,
1997: 1005).
“organised order maintenance, peace
keeping, rule or law enforcement, crime
investigation and prevention, and other
forms of investigation and associated
information brokering, which may involve
the concious exercise of coercive power.”
(Newburn & Neyroud eds, 2008: 217)
Role of the Police
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1. Catch criminals
– Detection
– Reactive
– Increasingly police focussed on this
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2. Prevent crime
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Prevention – inc. scarecrow policing
Proactive
Addresses fear of crime – community safety
More likely to be other agencies now
3. Maintain public order
– A key police function with specialist officers &
units
Tasks of the police
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Patrolling (still v. significant, but much less
than it used to be)
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Car, bike, bicycle and foot
Attend to calls (reactive, fire-fighting policing?)
Led by what local communities want
Proactive? Preventative?
Criminal investigation (CID)
– Inc. special units e.g vice, child protection
– reactive
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Traffic
Other
– E.g. administration,Dr Jason
dogRoachsquad, mobile reserves
for riots
Police, Policing and
Community Safety
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Police not the only ones who ‘police’
society: ‘Pluralisation of Policing’
Range of civilian and non-civilian
people with a variety of powers
Plural Policing
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No longer a single monolithic police force (if
there ever really was such a thing…)
Instead range of agencies, organisations &
individuals, inc. general ‘citizenry’
As part of this structural shift there is a
conceptual shift:
Away from idea of professional state police
to concern with social regulation, law
enforcement and maintenance of order by
formal and informal means
So: policing is everywhere and by everyone!
Dr Jason Roach
Who are the Police?
Bobby?
Riot Police?
British Transport
Police?
Armed police?
PCSO?
Police as Gatekeepers to
CJS
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Usually they are the gateway to the
CJS
Arrest
court, punishment etc
Or not? They can divert away from
CJS
– Caution, on the spot fine, informal
warning, no prosecution, no focus on
some crimes etc
POLICE POWERS
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Brixton Riots 1981;
‘Operation Swamp’: Led to..
Scarman Report 1981, which helped
contribute to..
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act
1984.
P.A.C.E. Act 1984
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Set new guidelines or ‘Codes of
Practice’ for police officers which
included:
Stop and Search powers..
Treatment of suspected persons..
Treatment of ‘detained persons.’
Policing
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Sources of information on the police:
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Personal Contact
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Word of Mouth
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Media Based: Mass Media etc.
Policing
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Why are we fascinated with Law and
Order?
TASK:
Make a list of factual and fictional TV
representations of the police.
Which do you think is the most
accurate portrayal of today’s police?
POLICING
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Discuss various ways that the police
are portrayed in the media, both on
Television and in the Newspapers.
Summary
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Policing is done by a multiple of
agencies, organisations & individuals
The police have 3 roles, but are
turning away from prevention
The police are gatekeepers to the rest
of CJS, especially through their use of
discretion
POLICING
Do the police do a good
job?